Honey (Sugar, Sugar)
by abadeerly
Summary: 'You are my candy girl, and you've got me wanting you.' [Candy Store AU]
1. Chapter 1

Candy had never been her thing. The dentist was too much of a threat, Marceline couldn't risk getting a filling and endure the torture of going there. It was too sweet anyway, too sickly. She'd never been a huge fan of chocolate as a kid, either. Halloween was just the exception because it was _Halloween_.

Keila finished off her _fifth_ lollipop and kept the stick dangling from her mouth. "Pass me another?" She waved her hand around beside her, the other too preoccupied with the pinball machine in front of her.

Marceline frowned. "You've had five, Kei, how old are you again?"

The dark skinned woman rolled her eyes a little, finally diverting her attention away from the game. Her hand was still there, though. "We won them, Marshmallow, come _on_ ," She wiggled her fingers as if that would convince her.

Marceline sighed and pulled out the bag of sweeties. "Do you understand how unhealthy these are?" She tried to ignore the nickname as best she could, hating the fact that she genuinely liked marshmallows even though they were mostly sugar and corn starch. The bag in her hands was reopened, another was taken, the stick in her friends mouth was thrown into the bin besides them. A shrug was offered. "Dude, there's so much sugar in these. They're practically _made_ of the stuff,"

"Explains why they're so good," Keila mumbled around the sweet, brows furrowing in concentration. "Score!" Marceline's attention went straight to the little slot that dispensed their tickets. They were supposed to be saving up for the big prize at 10k tickets, the little ukulele with two sets of strings, but Keila had splurged on three bags of candy and had wasted their savings of three hundred tickets. "Okay, see? We're back up to two fifty. Simple as winning pinball."

"I didn't even know you could _win_ pinball. Too difficult." Marceline's face crumpled into a look of disgust, watching as Keila took the tickets from the machine. "Wanna go get _actual_ food?"

Keila looked at her as if she'd grown a second head. "Uh, duh. I'm starved, let's go to the food court."

They exited the arcade with their tickets, Marceline glaring at the bag still in her hands while Keila complained that the mall was far too crowded for a Friday evening. Marceline blamed the gremlin highschool kids.

"I don't know why they don't just make a mall for the socially awkward, it'd make our lives so much- Oh my god, Marceline, we have to go in there like right now or I'll _die_." Keila's face lit up in a way that made Marceline nauseous. She followed her friends intense stare to a pastel looking store, cakes and sweets lining the windows. Yes, if there was a store that Keila wanted to go to that would be it.

"We'll swing by on our way out," Marceline muttered, tugging at her friends arm to pull her towards the food court. "I need a burrito."

"But- Marceline, that's The Candy Kingdom," Keila spluttered as if Marceline was supposed to know what that meant.

"I'm sorry? Will you kill me if I tell you that it doesn't ring a bell?" At Keila's glare, Marceline supposed that was a yes. "Look, we'll go afterwards I _promise_. You know I've never broken a promise."

"Marceline Elizabeth Abadeer I swear to god if you don't let me go inside right now I will _cry_." Middle names and a threat? Marceline couldn't decide whether Keila was her mother or just an actual child.

She gave a big sigh anyway, reluctantly letting the other woman tug her towards The Candy Kingdom and regretting every single life choice she had ever made.

"Who are they anyway? Sound like a bunch of pricks," Marceline was shushed almost immediately as they stepped inside. Immediately, her sense of smell was attacked by every artificial smell she could think of. It was almost as bad as the bath bomb place Keila liked so much. "This place looks like Willy Wonka's wet dream," She mused as she prodded one of the signs saying that all their products were safe and blah, blah, blah.

Keila's elbow found her ribcage almost instantly. "Shut up," She hissed, laughing despite herself. "And I'm the child?"

"You're supposed to be the mature one," Marceline shot back with a wide grin, pretending the liquorice besides her didn't exist. She remembered when Keila made her try some, blech. "Then you go and pull a stunt like this, with all the dramatics,"

Keila scoffed. "What dramatics?"

"Oh, Marceline, I'll die if I don't go in." She teased, putting her hand to her forehead as she gave a feigned faint. Keila shoved her away gently.

"Can I help you?" Neither Keila or Marceline had noticed the third presence in the store, resulting in both of them spinning on their heels to stare in bewilderment at a woman in the corner of the store, clad in an apron and holding a crate full of candy. At their surprise, the woman grinned. "Didn't mean to scare you, I thought you had noticed me already." She placed the crate down in the window of the store, beside one of the huge cakes that surely wasn't actually real. "What can we do for you today?"

"Dentist appointment?" Marceline chanced, giving the stranger a half grin and stepping away from Keila's damned elbow.

The woman's smile grew. "Sorry, wrong place. We have jawbreakers, though."

"She doesn't like candy," Keila mumbled. "It's disgusting. I'm only here to peruse but I've been promised desert and if she's good at one thing it's sticking to promises."

At the mention of Marceline's disdain for sweet stuff, the woman's eyes narrowed in an almost playful manner. "She better be good at it; if I don't see you soon I'll have to hunt you two down and give you _discounts_." She said it with a gasp, too, and Marceline would've rolled her eyes if it were Keila or someone she was actually on good terms with. "Seriously though, tell your family that there's finally a Candy Kingdom store here. I heard you've been wanting one for a while."

"Yeah," Marceline nodded, watching closely as Keila mouthed the word 'discount' to her and waggled her eyebrows. "We'll be back in twenty minutes, depends if she eats her kids meal without problem."

Keila protested. "Hey, I'm not the one who spilt milkshake on themselves and then cleaned it up with a _burger_. Ya nasty."

Marceline's face flushed and she pushed Keila out of the store with a glare and a farewell to the woman who worked there.

D

"Do I have to go in again?" Marceline whined, pouting as her friend tried to pull her towards the door. It was a surprise that both of their limbs hadn't been stretched out like taffy. "Come on, Kei, I'll wait for you."

"But you _really_ like their marshmallows, Marshmallow," A fact. "I don't have enough money to get you some and I'd feel bad if I went inside and _didn't_ get you any." Marceline assumed that, to people that didn't know them personally, it would appear that she was whipped. She did give in far too much to Keila's constant mischief and childish behaviour. Mostly because she had no energy to resist and it was the easiest option out of all of them.

When they walked in for the second time, Marceline saw that there were a few more customers than when they first entered. Keila pulled her in through the door and made a beeline towards the marshmallows, excitedly pointing at the new flavour of strawberry and cream.

"These sound disgusting, Kei." Marceline muttered. "Strawberry marshmallows are good, why ruin them with 'cream'." She added air quotes to emphasise her doubt on the taste.

"They actually taste really nice," The woman was back, and now that Marceline was actually paying attention and not just staring curiously, she noticed that her hair that had been tied into a bun before, was now down and _pink_. Marceline blinked. "The cream ones taste realistic as we could get them, and the strawberry ones have a surprise gooey centre. They're pretty expensive though," Marceline thumbed the label on the front of the crate they were in, frowning at the price. _£10.99_.

"Why so much money for marshmallows?" Marceline asked, a little crestfallen that she couldn't afford the new gooey centred strawberry and cream ones and instead taking a large packet of the regular soft pink marshmallows.

"They're new, there's only five hundred in stores around the world as of current. We need to know if people will actually buy them before lowering the price and mass producing." The woman smiled. "Thought you didn't like sweeties,"

"I like some… marshmallows are my favourite, though." And then, noticing that Keila was far too interested in the different types of chocolates and nougat, "What about you? Surely someone who works here has a favourite."

The pink haired woman smiled some more before gently taking Marceline's wrist to pull her to a different section of the store. Marceline wanted to politely tell her that only Keila could lead her around like a dog, but decided against it and closed her mouth.

"I love candy floss," Pink woman sighed. "The Candy Kingdom has really intense flavours and it's hard to compare to any other company."

Marceline frowned, looking down at the machine in front of her. "This isn't candy floss."

"Oh?" She had the audacity to arch her brow and produce a cone from somewhere beside the odd looking machine. "I'll make a candy lover out of you yet, grab the sugar from down the side. The flavourings should be down there too."

"It says it's for staff," Marceline protested, glancing at the laminated sign.

"I am staff, grab the things."

Marceline did as she was told, adding the sugar and a drop of flavouring to the machine. The woman flicked the machine on and told her to wait for a good two minutes. In that amount of time, they managed to create a little crowd of interested customers.

"Okay, so what you're gonna do is use the cone to make a figure eight in the machine while spinning it. You think you can manage that?"

"Wait, why am I doing this?" Marceline protested once more, looking wide eyed down at the cone in her hands. "I have no clue what I'm doing."

"I've just told you," So Marceline began to move the cone in a figure eight, spluttering when out of seemingly thin air candy floss caught onto the end. "See? Magical. Continue doing that until you've got a full cone."

It took no longer than three minutes for Marceline to finish the _pure sugar on a stick_ and insist that the woman take it. From behind her, Keila clapped a hand over her shoulder and grinned.

"I can't decide if I want chocolate or the different flavoured popcorn." She told Marceline, marvelling at the candy floss and the machine in front of them.

"I like popcorn," Marceline pointed out. "So we can share that."

"What do you think?" Keila asked the woman before them. "Popcorn to share or a huge ass chocolate bar to myself?"

"Definitely the popcorn, we do refills if you keep the bucket." She gave Marceline a wink then, and Keila's mouth fell open just the teeniest amount.

"This place is my second home," Keila decided. "I love this place."

"Grab the popcorn then," Marceline smirked, rolling her eyes at her far too dramatic friend. "We've gotta jet if we wanna see my dads reaction to the hole in my wall."

The pink haired woman ate her candy floss in peace, but circled around to behind the counter when Marceline and Keila needed to pay.

"Can we have a discount?" Keila whined, rifling through her wallet as she looked at the price.

She arched a brow at Keila, smirking playing around the corners of her mouth before she looked over to Marceline. "Of course, you've been nice enough today. Make sure to tell people about this store, though, or no more discounts."

Marceline just nodded and paid without question, elbowing Keila the moment they walked outside. "Really, a discount? I thought you had manners."

"Oh come on, Abadeer," Keila complained, staring down at the two packs of sweet things in her bag with wonder. "She was flirting with you the entire time, I only claimed what was already ours." A pause, for Marceline's brain to combust and for Keila to frown at the marshmallows. "Well, what was yours. Can't believe you didn't buy the cool expensive ones."

"What do you mean she was flirting with me?" Marceline asked instead of getting into an argument over the fact that she had next to no money in her wallet after that purchase.

"The whole time she was hinting at a discount and getting all friendly with you, the weird candy floss tutorial? Just an excuse to see how good you are with your hands, if you ask me."

Marceline shoved her. "Shut up, she just wanted to sell some products."

"She winked at you and said we could get refills. There is no sign near the popcorn saying we can get refills, I think it was just an excuse to see you again." Marceline bit her lip in thought, would it work though? "Also, can I stay at your place tonight? My dad is being a jerk and won't let me sleep in my room."

"You're getting it refurnished, aren't you?"

Keila paused. "Is that a no?"

Marceline groaned and continued to walk away. "It's a maybe, get your ass moving before I change my mind to a definite no."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: due to popular demand, here's the second chapter! once again, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated but absolutely not mandatory. just makes the effort worthwhile and makes me feel nice.**

There was a note stuck to the front of the double glass doors and her bus wouldn't be back for another half hour. The part of Marceline that didn't have any dignity kind of wanted to text Keila to pick her up, but she knew she'd never hear the end of it. 'Did you actually go back just to see the cute girl?' was something Keila would _definitely_ say, followed by 'Oh my god you're such a useless lesbian' when Marceline told her that yes she'd gone back to the mall with the sole purpose of to talk to the woman with the pink hair.

The plastic bucket in her hand was more of a strategic plan, go in with the 'free refills' to scout the situation out. See if pinkie really was flirting. Marceline had her doubts on the entire situation.

Just as she was about to turn and leave, however, the lights in the store came on and Marceline found herself pressing her face against the window like a… well, like a kid in a candy store, to be honest.

The pink haired woman came out from the staff only door and Marceline watched with wonder as she hung her apron up on the hook next to it. Then she turned and spotted Marceline _gawking_.

"We closed a half hour ago," She greeted as she stepped out of the store, locking the doors with a key card that she then placed in her bag. "So did most of the mall, actually."

"Yeah, I know. Didn't know if you stayed open longer or not," Marceline replied before she remembered her strategic plan. "I wanted a free refill. And a name, maybe?"

The woman narrowed her eyes. "Bonnibel, why?"

Marceline stared at Bonnibel, taking in her pale blue eyes and equally pastel pink hair. Now that they were outside of the store, in more decent lighting, Marceline assumed that they were a similar age. At first she thought this girl was much younger than her because of how soft and youthful she looked.

"Curious is all. Marceline," Marceline breathed with a scratch of her head, stretching her other hand between them and smiling when the other girl shook it. "I guess I'll head back home, anyway. You're open tomorrow, yeah?"

Bonnibel nodded once, but caught Marceline's wrist before she could leave. "I'd hate to have you come all this way for nothing," There was a slight hesitation then, as Marceline glanced at Bonnibel's fingers gingerly wrapped around her wrist and the pink haired woman bit her lip in thought. Marceline wanted to tell her that she actually lived nearby, that she didn't mind waiting for the bus, but the other woman's grip on her wrist was tight and the look on her face was determined. "I'm going home myself, to make more candy for the store, would you like to join me? There might be promise of more popcorn if you play your cards right." She threw a wink in.

"Popcorn sounds convincing," Marceline said hesitantly, a grin appearing on her face. "But how do I know you're not some murderer who's planning on stabbing me?"

"You're a good three inches taller than me and I work in a candy store, Marceline, I'm pretty sure out of the two of us you're more likely to be the murderer." Marceline's name sounded sweet coming out of the other woman's mouth, something that made Marceline shift uncomfortably. The lining in her stomach popped and fizzed. "Also, if I were to kill you I'd have done something to the candies you bought."

"Touché, I'd like to know why you make candy yourself, surely you'd want to work for your own company?"

Bonnibel's brow arched and they began walking to the mall's car park. Marceline felt a tiny bit stupid carrying around the empty plastic bucket and discarded it in the bins near the entrance. "Wouldn't you like to know?" Bonnibel teased as they walked. "I'll tell you soon enough, only if you stick around though."

That was cryptic, but then again according to Keila everything that Bonnibel had said to Marceline the previous week had been coded words and hinted flirting. It made her brain hurt just the tiniest amount to think back and wonder if that were true.

She held the door open for Bonnibel and watched as the other woman strode up to a bright yellow beetle parked neatly near the entrance. It almost made Marceline laugh because oh yes that's of course what Bonnibel the candy store worker drove and why was Marceline expecting anything else?

D

Bonnibel Sugar lived in a tiny little cottage on the nicest part of town Marceline had ever seen. The older woman had learned of her (frankly fitting) last name on the car ride to their destination, and Bonnibel had rolled her eyes when Marceline began laughing at the revelation.

"You don't have anywhere to be tomorrow, right?" Bonnibel asked lightly, taking a key out of her back pocket to unlock her front door. "Making sweets and pastries isn't quick." She added on at Marceline's frown.

"No, got fired from my last job because apparently I was too grouchy." Marceline hunched over herself then, remembering the conversation she'd had with her boss.

Bonnibel raised her brow ever so slightly but said nothing more, instead opening the door and letting Marceline slink inside before her. The walls were a pastel shade of pink, as to be expected with a woman called Bonnibel Sugar who worked at a candy store and had pink hair, and Marceline's eyes widened when she was ushered into the living room.

"Are those vinyls?" She asked. Of course she already knew the answer, yes they were indeed, because Marceline had a collection in her apartment and oh goodie Bonnibel was into 60's music too.

"Do you want anything to drink before we begin?" Bonnibel sang as she stepped through another door into the kitchen. "You can put something on, if you like."

"Tea, please," Marceline replied in an equally singsong-y tone, thumbing over the numerous albums and pausing over one in particular. Bonnibel asked her if she wanted any sugar, to which Marceline replied with her usual 'just one' as she put the vinyl in the record player and placed the needle down delicately.

" _Looky over there, sunshine in her hair_

 _That's my girl, her name is Skooby-Doo."_

"I can't believe you have this album," She breathed out in a sigh when Bonnibel brought her her drink and led her into the kitchen. Ingredients were already out; sugar, more sugar, syrup, evaporated milk, cream, butter and vanilla extract. Marceline squinted at the syrup. "This looks particularly unhealthy."

Bonnibel giggled. "We're making toffee. Just a batch, because they take an hour and this recipe serves sixty."

"The last time I had toffee was eight years ago," Marceline admitted, watching as Bonnibel began to gather a medium-sized pot and a tin from her cupboards.

"Can you grease this?" Marceline was offered the tin and a stick of butter that looked already worn down, and she obediently got to work with greasing the entirety of it. She still watched Bonnibel begin to pour in ingredients to the pot now on the stove, though. "The thing with this recipe is that you have to be patient," Bonnibel explained. "Can you pass me the candy thermometer?"

"The what?" Marceline asked incredulously, butter still held loosely in her hand.

"It's near the vanilla extract, I'll need that too." Marceline definitely felt a few hundred miles out of her comfort zone, yet that didn't stop her from staying up with Bonnibel until the wee hours of the morning.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: It's been a while. This was meant to be posted a while ago, sorry about that! Got slumped writing the ending, rewatched the good place on netflix because season three came out, forgot about this. Whoops.**

* * *

Marceline glared at herself through the mirror. The light pink polo shirt felt itchy against her neck and the colour in general just looked off in contrast to her pale skin. Yes, Bonnibel looked way cuter in the Candy Kingdom uniform.

"Oh, stop scowling at yourself," Bonnibel was behind her now, frowning at how the uniform, too big on Marceline's skinny form, hung off her body. "C'mere, I'll do up your buttons."

The other woman gave her no time to protest as she put her hands on her shoulders to spin her around. Marceline found herself staring at the wall behind Bonnibel, a little too content with the heat that gathered in her cheeks.

When she felt hands slip under her belt, however, she let out a squawk of protest. "Hey-!"

"Stop your yelling Marceline, I'm only tucking your shirt in." There was a playful smirk on Bonnibel's face, and Marceline put too much thought in her friends wording. _Only_.

She levelled a glare at Bonnibel through the mirror. "I'm not a child, I'm capable of dressing myself, thank you." There was a moment of silence as Bonnibel continued to fret over the smallest of details, smoothing out Marceline's collar and twisting her mouth when she looked to the mane of hair on her head.

"Thank you for doing this by the way," Bonnibel breathed out after a second. "The other employees are being trained because of the new store being built in the next town over. I suspect they'll be looking to steal some of my workers and have me send them over next month."

"It's cool, I get to hang out with you and Keila has been persistent to come and see me dressed like this ever since I told her." She took one last glance at herself in the mirror, deciding that the pale khaki trousers and her converse were an odd fashion statement, before she found herself being ushered into the store by the younger woman.

"You'll be working the cash register," Bonnibel began, smile faltering when she noticed a decorative piece of gingerbread was askew. "Not too difficult, should be easy for you, don't mess it up or else I'll fire you."

"Harsh, Bonnibel," Marceline peered at the cash register before her, twisting her mouth in thought as she tried to remember what her old summer jobs were like when she was in college. "I know how to do this, don't worry."

Bonnibel's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but then the front door opened and in came their first few customers of the day.

Keila had waltzed in around midday, made a beeline to the buns and cakes section, and remained in that corner while Marceline busied herself with a few customers and their brownies. Every now and then she'd glance up to see Bonnie, smiling fondly in her direction or giving her a little thumbs up. Yes, Bonnibel made working in a store that sold tooth rotting sweeties worth it.

"You look utterly _adorable_ , Marshmallow." Keila chirped, still empty handed. Marceline glowered. "Anyway, how much is the giant cake over there?"

"You're not buying that and if you do I'll make you eat it like the scene out of Matilda."

Keila swallowed. "Different question, how much are the pastries?"

"Keila, you _can_ read. I've seen you do it before." Marceline muttered dryly. "Go over there and have a look instead of-," Marceline cut herself off when she felt a hand on the small of her back, and suddenly the same warmth from before was back in her cheeks.

"Stop sassing the customers, yeah?" Bonnibel hummed around a smile after having suddenly appeared next to her. "Pastries are between a dollar and four dollars, depending on what you get. There's a two for one deal going on this week also."

"See? Not hard to be nice, Marshmallow." Keila stuck her tongue out, turned on her heel, and wandered over to the pastries.

Another customer came over to pay for a bag of the new flavoured popcorn and Marceline was just all too aware of the hand that was _still_ at her back. Bonnibel hummed when the customer thanked them and left the store.

"You're doing surprisingly well for someone who hates sugar."

"I could never hate you," Marceline joked. "And I've worked behind a counter before; some of my first jobs were similar to this."

Bonnibel just gave her a sweet little smile and snaked her arm around her waist. "I'm glad you've got experience, makes things easier." And then she was gone, leaving Marceline to realise that yes, Keila was correct in her unbridled assumptions. Bonnibel Sugar was flirting with her.

And she was _enjoying_ it.

"I'm surprised you stayed to help close up," Bonnibel called over her shoulder from somewhere in the store. Marceline just continued shuffling out of her borrowed clothes and back into her more comfy jeans.

"I'm not just going to let you stay here on your own. Plus, who else is going to offer me a ride home afterwards?" Marceline cracked an awkward smile when Bonnibel peeked around the door to glare at her. "Joking, but I wouldn't be against the idea of not having to spend money on a bus."

Bonnibel's face softened. "I can drive you home. _But_ I'd much rather take you back to my place and woo you with my excellent tea making skills and record collection again."

"You don't have to woo me, Bonnibel," Marceline said truthfully, putting the uniform in her bag and shouldering it. "Tea does sound really nice though."

"It's settled then. We're going back to my place so I can woo you."

"Seriously, there's no wooing necessary."

Bonnibel scowled playfully. "Nonsense, you're getting wooed."

"Alright, yeah, cool. Woo me, Sugar." Marceline sighed out, a little tired after working. She found herself being tugged at the wrist out of the store and all the way into Bonnibel's car. "But… really, you've already wooed me enough don't you think?"

Bonnibel rolled her eyes and started the engine, glancing at Marceline with a little smile. "Perhaps. However, I do believe you're worthy of being wooed more than I already have and plus, that was all talk." And she even had the audacity to wink. Marceline would have to tell Keila about that because holy shit did her stomach whirl. "Abadeer, what kind of movies do you like?"

"Horror, sci-fi… mostly the alien franchise I'm not gonna lie."

"Perfect. You don't have anything to do tomorrow do you?"

"I don't think so?" Marceline mumbled, rolling her eyes up in thought. "I think my dad said something about being out the house by ten. Why?"

"Well, there's no need to worry about being out by a certain time when you're not in the house to start off with. Sleep at mine tonight?" _That_ was the most forward Bonnibel had ever been.

But, hey, she'd watched the Alien movies way too many times to be considered healthy, so she wasn't particularly fussed when Bonnibel proposed they do something else to pass the time.


End file.
